10 Tips for using Word Banks

Word Banks are suggested in most language series. Use the following list for strategies to make Word Banks work for you and your students. You may wish to combine some of the ideas to form completely new strategies tailored especially for your students.
1. Have students create their personal Word Bank in the form of a notebook, designating each alphabet letter to an individual page. Students can then add words along with their definitions into their Word Bank, ultimately forming a personal dictionary.
2. Allow students to create a Word Bank file in a file card box or other appropriately shaped container. They can write their word on one side of file cards or trimmed tag board, and illustrate or define their word on the other. Students should keep their cards in alphabetical order.
3. At frequent intervals, encourage students to create sentences, paragraphs, or simple stories using as many or their Word Bank words as possible.
4. Help students take frequent advantage of a classroom dictionary to check the accuracy of either the student's personal definition of the word, or the sentence usage of the word.
5. Ask students to keep a personal journal of words to form their Word Bank. In addition to entering the word, they should indicate where they found the word (such as a trade book, the Internet, or from a lesson), what they think the word means, what a dictionary says it mean, and create a sentence using the word.
6. Give students an opportunity to find a new word from a trade book or other lesson extension. Then have students take turns showing their word to other students, asking their classmates to contribute possible definitions and use the word in sentences.
7. Students can keep daily words on a key ring (or large paper clip). Have students write each word on a stiff piece of paper or index card (with a hole punched in it) as they encounter it during the day. After they complete writing the word, they should immediately add it to their key ring.
8. At the end of the day, have students share their Word Bank words with the group, creating sentences for each. You may wish students to take Word Banks home with at the end of the day so that they can practice using the words and share them with other family members.
9. You may wish to have students share their Word Bank words by creating a poster with a partner. The poster should include words from each student's Word Bank along with an illustration or definition of the word. The poster should indicate which student contributed each word.
10. Your entire group can create a class Word Bank, either by contributing words individually, or agreeing to enter them into the class Word Bank as they are encountered in group instruction. Keep your class Word Bank on chart paper or separate pieces of tag board, and add to it frequently, creating a complete "Word Wall"